And our little community totally came through – as I knew you would. You can read all of the comments here, but let’s just say that as I’m writing this, Phase One is complete and a big success and Phases 2, 3, and 4 are set for takeoff. 🙂 You can follow me on Instagram for my updates. I already got this action shot this morning:

Before you think I’m all Super Laundry Woman and stuff, you should read my post about my 3 step system if you haven’t yet. Far from it. Truth is that I finally found a system that works for me though – and I’m kind of delighted about the whole thing!

How I practiced a healthy habit:

My goal for this past month in this area was this:

“I blew the dust off our old recumbent bike and lugged it into our family room the other day. I am planning on using it four times a week this month. Hold me to it, ok?”

I’ll be honest. This mission started slowly and the first couple of weeks I did not reach my goal. By about week 3 though, I found myself getting in a groove and missing the physical activity on any days that I skipped. These Winter Hips don’t lie though – there is still work to be done here.

How I organized life:

I keep taking credit for organizing my life, but for the past two months, my friend Heidi is really the one who deserves the credit. We make a great team. I come up with the idea and she pretty much does all the hard work from there. Get yourself some good friends, people. That’s the moral of the story.:)

Last month’s project was the LEGO center and this month she’s helping me tackle my Gallery Wall. I’ve been putting off the Gallery Wall because I think you need a college degree in GalleryWall-ology to put one together. Either that or a talented friend.

It’s not quite done yet, but here is a glimpse into our creative process.

That’s all you get. Stay tuned for the rest of the story soon.
p.s. Please don’t send me worried emails about the color scheme here – spray paint is our friend.

How I brought joy to life:

I decided this past month to just be open to looking for joy in unexpected places.

And I found it in some old school fun with my boys.

My husband and I taught our boys how to play the Game of Life. They loved it – and it brought back fun memories for me.

It’s also likely the only way I’m going to ever see how it feels to have a daughter.

SLEDDING!

I forgot how much fun this is. Until you end up in the thawed out creek at the bottom of the hill. But that’s a story for another day…

So now I want to know:

What are YOUR Monthly Missions for April?

I’ve been really enjoying this new strategy for planning simplicity and joy into my life and I’d LOVE for you to join me.

Then sometime in the next few days, grab your printable, a cup of coffee and a pencil and map out your missions for the month.

And to help inspire you to follow through, share your missions in the comment below.

$10 Starbucks Gift Card Giveaway!

To encourage you to see how easy it is to join me in my Monthly Missions, I am going to be giving a $10 Starbucks Gift Card to one person who comments below sharing at least ONE mission you are reaching for this month. What is one way you plan to simplify, organize, practice a healthy habit or find JOY this month? Leave a comment below and I’ll choose a random winner and post the winner in my next Monthly Missions update on May 1st!

I’ll be sharing what my missions are for the month of April in my Merry Little Living Project newsletter so be sure to click here to sign up if you haven’t yet!

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Comments

I’m making our snacks from scratch…at least some of them. My daughter and I made our own granola bars a couple of times over spring break. We also made our own banana chips (much cheaper than store-bought). The granola bars weren’t that cheap since we put so many different nuts in the mix, but we used what was on sale. They tasted so much better than store-bought. We’ll have to try your recipe…it looks like it’ll be cheaper than ours and it sounds delicious. We plan on making our own cheese crackers, too.

One way I plan on giving myself joy this month is giving myself grace when I feel unmotivated or depressed. I need to take care of myself and my emotions before I can take care of everyone else in the family.

To find joy this month: I took a challenge (from a book I read) to spend 10 minutes each day with every child doing something they wanted to do. No distractions, just the two of us. I have three kids so it is manageable, but still hard! It quickly became their “highs” of the day though, and they really look forward to it, so I’m going to continue it and add on more minutes as time goes on.